Redesign At Long Last

I have announced a redesign more than a month ago, but since WP 2.2 has been delayed, I decided to delay it as well. It’s finished now … well, almost. The upgrading process and the redesign exhausted me. So this post will just be a placeholder. Place your comments here, but I will surely edit this entry later.

I was just worried about some things the upgrade did to my database, it seems that some non-Latin characters was converted to something else. I will investigate on this matter after I wake up later this morning.

*after waking up this afternoon*

After years of having single color accents, I’ve decided to take on dual-color accents to be used on this new design. I just love having complementary orange and blue on almost anything, now they’re on my Web site as well.

Thanks to Arvin for pointing out that my comment form didn’t work. I’ve only used id attributes on the form elements that browsers handling HTML-compatible XHTML wouldn’t process as query string variable names like what they do on name attributes.

I think I like the old one better despite it having smaller text (if my memory serves me). This new template seems too generic where as the old one seemed to have more personality. Sorry, I can’t help but compare. =)

One more thing: I don’t think it helps having this much letter-spacing. Maybe, if you’re really up for this, add more line-height too to compensate.

Like Kuya Arielle, I like the previous one better. But I love this one, you know that. Kailangan ko lang sanayin yung sarili ko sa bagong mukha ng iyong blog. I just realized that we’ve been blogmates for months now at ngayon ko lang nakitang nagbago ng theme ang blog mo, so it requires getting used to.

Most surprising are the ads, haha! There’s something about the bottombar that’s bothering me. Maybe I just find it too crowded because I’m more used to a smaller font size in your site. Oh yes, the letter-spacing as well. Parang it makes your blog harder to read. And grr, I was supposed to use speech bubbles on my comments as well on the current layout (which, I find out, sucks in IE6 haha…I care? LOL) but got tired of experimenting.

Thanks for the comments and criticisms. Maybe I did overdo the letter-spacing. How is it now?

Arielle, I really don’t get why you think this theme hasn’t got my personality. AFAIK, if it’s orange, it’s still me. LOL! Maybe Shari’s right that, it requires getting used to. Besides, I had my past theme for more than a year.

Shari, yes, the ads. I actually think it helps me. Haha! But, click only if you want to, or else you’d make me end up losing my AdSense account. Thanks for the complete(?) review of my theme.

BTW, you just said that you found out something sucks in IE6. Which one? The one you’re making, or this? I have no IE6 to test with anymore.

I actually got the reply form design idea from WaSP. But, I didn’t copy any code, I just emulated the look they have there.

I am still researching about what the upgrades did to my DB, and I am planning to post something about it. I think it has something to do with the wp-config.php. I’d update you with the post after I gathered all my references.

Hahaha, no I didn’t mean this theme doesn’t reflect YOUR personality. (Honestly, I wouldn’t even know what that is since we only know each other online.) What I meant was that the previous layout, compared to this one, seemed to have ITS OWN personality because the design and layout combination isn’t as generic.

And by generic I mean, a masthead that has some sort of computer part enforcing some kind of technical catch phrase; for one thing, i.e., a partial shot of a laptop computer trying to enforce a theme “blogging with standards”– trite, no? Whereas in the previous template, the masthead alone seems to be communicating something… well… original, or if not, at least it was trying to communicate a cliche in an original way. Ano nga yung catch phrase niya, “fast-paced thoughts in slow motion”? Catchy (pardon the pun)!

The pages don’t have to be orange and black, really. You don’t even have to retain the old catch phrase. It’s just that, artistically, the older theme has more value than this one. Again, it’s not really about the colours but how they actually come together with each other, with the imagery and with the stock verbal content. And the old theme was able to mix and inter-mix those elements quite well.

But then, you’ll have to forgive me for being too critical– that’s just how I am with the work of people I respect. =) Otherwise, I wouldn’t even care to comment. Hehehehe!

My layout. The sidebar goes all the way down on IE. I know how to fix it mainly because it’s something I forgot, but I’m too tamad to do anything about it.

The DB issue has something to do with the collate and charset lines in wp-config.php. Upgrading from a previous version with those lines would do crazy things on your blog. Pero deleting them solves the problem naman. Baffled din ako nung una kung ano nangyari eh.

Arielle, I got your point. I just didn’t know someone has been looking into my themes that much artistically. And, after more than a year of being presented, I found it has somehow lost its meaning—at least for me. I don’t actually place much emphasis on design, and I think you know that—I’ve been trying to provide more meaningful and relevant content. But, still, I thank you for the insight. 🙂

Shari, most probably, the padding on your boxes is the culprit. You know how it is when IE handles the box model. I’ve fixed the charset problem myself. But, since I’ve found out the default encoding WordPress uses for DBs is latin1, I’m looking for a good and safe way to convert the DB encoding to utf8, and not rely on the character set handling by WordPress.

i was wondering if the rss feed (entries – atom) works? i tried to put the feed on my blog & it didn’t work. and also the photo ‘baby aja yawning’ doesn’t load either, no matter how many times i hit refresh.. like the new layout though! it has a nice clean look. i envy how much resources you have in making all those sites & this one too! i have a simple cbox on my blog, could you buzz me or something about the ‘rss feed problem’ i’m having.. really would love to add yours to my blog feeds 🙂